American politics is so far down the toilet that even the audiences of our so-called town halls are no longer real. If this is the type of corruption that marks the presidential campaign of a "front runner," radical change through business as usual is already an impossibility for this country -- and everyone knows it. I say if these fascist pigs want plants, let's give it to them -- from the grass roots!

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Clinton admits planting questions in public forumby Andrew Malcolm

Hillary Clinton stopped at a bio-diesel plant [pun intended?] in Newton, Iowa earlier this week to see alternative fuels in the making and drive home the week's campaign theme of her energy plan. After a tour, the candidate took questions from the crowd. . . .

There's a good reason for that, too. The question was a plant, totally rigged in advance, like a late-night infomercial. Just before the public forum a Clinton staffer had chosen the young woman, a student at Grinnell College, and asked her to ask that specific question. . . .

Perhaps in large urban centers such stage-managed set-ups are acceptable, even expected. But in smalltown Iowa and New Hampshire, where even political opponents run into each other at the Dairy Queen after the high school football game, they take great pride in genuinely meeting candidates face-to-face in living rooms and diners for honest questioning. Rigging a show like this is extremely bad form and Clinton could take a real hit for it, especially since it suits her reputation for being calculating.

But here's the catch. Although other campaigns are righteously denying it tonight, virtually every professional presidential campaign plants questions. It's a routine part of preparation for the advance people staging every event.

Not every question is planted, as you can tell from the weird ones that sometimes pop up. But enough are to ensure the campaign gets the necessary rehearsed sound-bite for the TV cameras on the day's theme. The candidate may honestly not know of the plants, but as soon as she/he hears the question, the answer carefully prepared by the political staff comes flowing forth.